Otsego County residents mobilize after Pearl Harbor

March 25, 2002|By BILL GRANLUND

Otsego County, along with the rest of the nation, began to mobilize after the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese plunged the country into war. The Dec. 11, 1941 Herald Times ran a notice for a meeting to be held at the Gaylord Auditorium on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 7:30 p.m. The Gaylord City Band played at the meeting, which was used to organize groups such as the Red Cross, as well as to raise funds for defense.

In a related article, the paper ran a list of young men from the county who were known to be stationed in the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific area. Those men serving their country from Otsego County included Chester Jaruzel, Jack Culliton, Robert F. Butters and Ralph Holewinski, who was on Wake Island.

The Dec. 16 meeting was well attended and more than $1,100 was raised for the Red Cross. Frank Wilkinson acted as master of ceremonies and outlined the purpose of the meeting. Mayor Glasser was called upon to plead for those present to buy defense bonds. Glasser explained the different types of bonds and why it was important to purchase them.

Advertisement

City fire chief Lloyd Beckett was asked to speak and was called on to head the county committees on fires and sabotage. Beckett stated many community members would be called on to study first aid and to be prepared to give any talks which were requested of them.

The Rev. Francis Kaminski and Elder Allen Schreur spoke of patriotism and duty, while Harry Lynch, chairman of the Red Cross War Relief discussed raising funds for the Red Cross. Lynch had hardly started to talk before a line formed to give money and sign pledges which were payable within 30 days.

The war years from 1941 to 1945 in Otsego County were typical of those of the rest of the country. Rationing of food, gas and clothing was the norm for the community - and A, B and C rationing stamps played an important role in the local economy.

Scrap and paper drives were held, as were drives for other products which were in short supply. The salvaging of fats even took place, as the major sources in the Pacific for fats and oils had been shut off. Sugar, butter, nylons and rayons as well as ammunition for hunting became items which were hard to obtain.

The war took a heavy toll on the young people in the county. A large number lost their lives in defense of their country. In 1945 Cpl. Ralph J. Holewinski came home from the war. Holewinski had been a defender of Wake Island and was seriously wounded and then captured by the Japanese. He spent the next four years in Japanese prison camps and was released on Sept. 7, 1945.

The war came to an end in the Pacific Theater in August of 1945 after two atomic bombings on Japan. A great deal of discussion has taken place over the years as to the part in history that Otsego County played in the development of the bomb.*

On a squash court at the University of Chicago on Dec. 1, 1942, the first self-sustaining chain reaction was achieved and initiated the first controlled release of nuclear energy. This event culminated 50 years of work with the atom.

* Dr. Arthur Holly Compton, a physics professor and longtime summer resident of Otsego Lake, played a key role in the project which developed the atomic bomb.

- Bill Granlund is a retired Gaylord High School principal and area historian.